B.V. Lawson's Blog, page 61

Author R&R with Penny Goetjen

Award-winning author Penny Goetjen writes murder mysteries where the milieus play as prominent a role as the engaging characters. A self-proclaimed eccentric known for writing late into the night, transfixed by the allure of flickering candlelight, Goetjen embraces the writing process, unaware what will confront her at the next turn. Fascinated with the paranormal, she usually weaves a subtle, unexpected twist into her stories. After writing a three book mystery series set on the coast of Maine and two books set in the Caribbean islands, her latest crime novel, The Woman Underwater, is set in her home state of Connecticut.

The Woman Underwater centers on Victoria Sands, whose husband disappeared without a trace seven years ago. In the years since, no witnesses have stepped forward and no credible evidence has been collected, not even his car. The few tenuous leads the police had are now ice cold. He simply vanished on a field trip with the private boarding school where he taught behind stone walls, the same school their son now attends. But someone has to know what happened. And that someone may be closer to Victoria than she realizes.

Penny stops by In Reference to Murder to talk about writing and researching her books:

 

What goes on before a writer sets pen to paper or fingertips to a keyboard?

Research is a malleable term. Writers each have their own definition of what that means to them in their work.

Honestly, I don’t spend a lot of time researching my novels before I sit down at my laptop to launch into a new manuscript. I write about locations I know intimately and have already fallen in love with, so there’s not much to research about the setting. But situations come up as I delve into each story that do require further investigation.

My most recent release, The Woman Underwater, a contemporary suspense set in New England, features a tension-filled helicopter scene. I didn’t know much about whirlybirds before I got to that development in the story, so I Googled certain parts of the craft and what the inside of helicopters looks like. Fortunately, I was writing from a laywoman’s perspective so she didn’t have to know technical terms, but I needed an understanding of what she would be seeing and experiencing. Once I was finished writing the chapter I ran it by a friend of mine, an airline pilot and former helicopter pilot, to test its validity. With only a single word tweaked, it sailed through with his nod.

In the second book in my Olivia Benning Series, Over the Edge ~ Murder Returns to the Caribbean, I needed to understand how the currents ran along Peterborg Peninsula on St. Thomas in the U.S.V.I.—particularly if “something” was dropped into the water on the bayside versus the oceanside of the peninsula. So, I reached out to a friend who is a seasoned captain there. He was very helpful, providing maps and regaling stories about how dangerous it can be on the point and the fate of the unfortunate who have stood in the wrong spot on the rocks at the wrong time.

In the third book of my coastal Maine mysteries, Murder Returns to the Precipice, I needed to get into the background of a certain coin that plays a key role in the story. What is referred to as the 1933 Double Eagle had an abbreviated stint in circulation when President Franklin D. Roosevelt recalled all gold, in an attempt to end the bank crisis of the 1930s. The few coins that were not returned soared in value but were deemed illegal to possess. I found it fascinating digging into this unique coin’s history, often uncovering varying versions of the story.

So for me, research isn’t visiting the local library or reading tombs of historical or technical information before I start a rough draft. Most of what I use is what I’ve experienced living or visiting in colorful locales. As the story develops, however, and as the need arises, I turn to Google or an expert in a particular field.

You can learn more about Penny Goetjen and her books via her website and also follow her on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Goodreads. The Woman Underwater is now available via all major booksellers.

         Related StoriesAuthor R&R with Lisa ShermanAuthor R&R with J.L. AbramoAuthor R&R with Brian Lebeau 

Media Murder for Monday

It's the start of a new week and that means it's time for a brand-new roundup of crime drama news:

THE BIG SCREEN/MOVIES

Keanu Reeves is negotiating a deal to reprise his role as the hitman, John Wick, in Ballerina, a new spin-off to his hit action franchise for Lionsgate, joining an ensemble cast led by Ana de Armas. As was also announced last week, Ian McShane will reprise his role as The Continental Hotel manager, Winston, which he’s played since the original John Wick film. Ballerina will center on a young female assassin (De Armas) who seeks revenge against the people who killed her family — as Wick has against those who have done him wrong. Production on the spinoff is now underway, with Len Wiseman directing from a script by Shay Hatten.

Oscar and Emmy winner, Viola Davis (The Woman King), will produce and star in the upcoming feature G20 from Amazon Studios and MRC Film. The action-thriller helmed by director, Patricia Riggen (The 33), sees terrorists overtake the G20 Summit, with American President Taylor Sutton (Davis) then bringing all her statecraft and military experience to defend her family, her fellow leaders and the world. Noah and Logan Miller (White Boy Rick) wrote the script, with revisions by Caitlin Parrish and Erica Weiss (The Red Lion).

Netflix released a full trailer for Glass Onion: A Knives Out Mystery, only two weeks away from its theatrical release. Set in Greece this time around, Glass Onion will see Benoit Blanc (Daniel Craig) head out to the private island of billionaire tech genius Miles Bron (Edward Norton) where murder is afoot. Previous footage has introduced fans to the colorful cast of suspects and potential victims as they solved their puzzle boxes, claimed their invitations, and made their way to a mixer in paradise full of more head-scratchers to solve. Upon arriving, however, they realize it is no mere game when a death occurs on the island, putting detective Blanc on the case.

TELEVISION/STREAMING SERVICES

HBO and A24 have named the leads for The Sympathizer, a drama series adaptation of Viet Thanh Nguyen’s Pulitzer Prize-winning novel, produced by and co-starring Robert Downey Jr. The five series regulars, Hoa Xuande, Fred Nguyen Khan, Toan Le, Vy Le, and Alan Trong, all of Vietnamese descent, were cast following an extensive search in a worldwide online open casting call. The Sympathizer is an espionage thriller and cross-culture satire about the struggles of a half-French, half-Vietnamese communist spy (Hoa Xuande) during the final days of the Vietnam War and his resulting exile in the United States. Downey Jr. is set to play multiple supporting roles as the main antagonists, all of whom represent a different arm of the American establishment. It was previously announced that Sandra Oh (Killing Eve), Kieu Chinh (Dynasty), and Nguyen Cao Ky Duyen (Paris By Night) are also set for key recurring roles.

Disney is actively looking to develop an Indiana Jones TV show for Disney+. Because the studio is still looking for a writer to take on the project, no plot details are available. The move to potentially develop an Indiana Jones show comes as Harrison Ford has stated he is done playing the character after the fifth film, which is due out in 2023. Disney is currently exploring a number of options to keep the franchise going, which could mean a series, new films, other media, or a combination. Should a series move forward, it would mark the second show about Indiana Jones to make it to air, following The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles that aired on ABC in the 1990s. Ford made a cameo appearance in one episode, but the show focused primarily on the early years of the character, with Sean Patrick Flanery and Corey Carrier playing him at different times in his life.

CBS is developing the drama series, Manner of Death, from writer and executive producer Emily Silver. Manner of Death tells the story of by-the-book Medical Examiner Amanda Bowman who, while fleeing her mysterious past, clashes with maverick Sheriff Luke Parker igniting a complex professional and personal relationship as they solve murders together. Amanda will also tackle how to do her job with the deck stacked against her. Silver also worked as a writer on various seasons of Fox’s Bones, led by Emily Deschanel and David Boreanaz.

Kate Mulgrew (Star Trek: Voyager) is the latest addition to the cast of the drama series, Sinking Spring, at Apple TV+. Mulgrew will star alongside previously announced lead, Brian Tyree Henry, as well as Michael Mando, and Marin Ireland. The series is based on the book, Dope Thief, by Dennis Tafoya. Per the official logline, the series "follows long-time Philly friends and delinquents who pose as DEA agents to rob an unknown house in the countryside, only to have their small-time grift become a life-and-death enterprise, as they unwittingly reveal and unravel the biggest hidden narcotics corridor on the Eastern seaboard." Mulgrew will play Theresa Bowers, described as Ray’s (Brian Tyree Henry) de facto mother who steps in to raise him as if he were her own child.

The networks have begun to announce their mid-season premiere dates. NBC, which picked up Magnum PI from CBS after that network decided to cut it loose, slotted the return of the series on February 19 at 9pm ET, followed by the new missing-persons drama, Found. The network also scheduled the three Law & Order series back-to-back on January 5. Meanwhile, ABC has lined up The Rookie and The Rookie Feds at new times on Tuesday beginning January 3, followed by the series premiere of Will Trent, based on the novels of Karin Slaughter. And Fox's lineup includes series premieres in early January of Alert, a procedural drama about the Philadelphia Police Department’s Missing Person’s Unit, and Accused, based on the BBC’s BAFTA-winning crime anthology, in which each episode opens in a courtroom on the accused without knowing their crime or how they ended up on trial.

PODCASTS/VIDEO/RADIO/AUDIO

Crime Time FM's Paul Burke spoke with Stuart Macbride about protagonists and antagonists and his latest chilling thriller, No Less the Devil.

Red Hot Chili Writers chatted with American crime writer, Kellye Garrett, discussing why women should rule the world, and investigated weird and wonderful laws in small town America.

Jason Wong, who starred alongside Matthew McConaughey, Hugh Grant, and Charlie Hunnam in Guy Ritchie’s The Gentleman, is exploring Hong Kong’s most notorious gangster in a new narrative podcast series. The actor is hosting Bad Money, a six-part series that charts the life of Big Spender, otherwise known as Cheung Tze-keung.

My Favorite Detective Stories welcomed Katie Tallo, an award-winning screenwriter and director, whose thriller debut, Dark August inspired the 2022 sequel, Poison Lilies.

It Was a Dark And Stormy Book Club featured Gregg Olson discussing American Mother, the chilling true-crime story of Stella Nickell — a mother and wife who did the unthinkable and the unforgiveable.

         Related StoriesMedia Murder for Monday 

Friday's "Forgotten" Books: Murder Among Friends

Elizabeth Ferrars (1907-1995), born Morna Doris MacTaggart, was a British crime writer and founding member of the Crime Writers Association who received a special Silver Dagger for lifetime achievement in 1980. Her Golden Age books totaled over 70 in all, written over a period of six decades, from 1932-1995. Her first crime fiction novel, Give a Corpse a Bad Name, led to a successful career as a mystery author in both the U.K. and in the U.S., where her publishers issued her books under the name "E.X. Ferrars."



It's been argued that her popularity hasn't survived well into the late 20th and early 21st centuries due to the lack of a solid series character. Her first attempt was with freelance journalist Toby Dyke (a Lord Peter Wimsey type) and his companion, George, a former criminal whose surname is never revealed. She wrote five Toby Dyke novels over a two-year period, which may be why she suddenly ended the series, adding that she did so because she "got to hate him so much." In the 1970s and 1980s she created a series featuring a semi-estranged married couple, Virginia and Felix Freer, and another with retired botanist, Andrew Basnett. She also penned short stories centering on an elderly detective called Jonas P. Jonas. 



Her writing was in the "cozy mystery" vein, and as the Mysterious Bookshop noted, Ellery Queen's Mystery Magazine described her as the "writer who may be the closest of all to Agatha Christie in style, plotting and general milieu," while the Washington Post described her as "a consummate professional in clever plotting, characterization and atmosphere."



Murder Among Friends, from 1946 (published in the U.S. as Cheat the Hangman), is one of her 50 standalone novels, and was included by H.R.F. Keating on his 100 best crime fiction books list. The story begins with a party thrown by Cecily Lightwood for her literary and artistic friends, including guest of honor, playwright Aubrey Ritter, who lives in the flat above Cecily's. The group is determined to have a fun evening despite the ever-present danger of air raid wardens looking for blackout infringements in war-time London.



But where is the guest of honor? After he's found murdered upstairs and one of the party-goers arrested and later sentenced to murder, another guest, mousy Alice Church, finds herself so obsessed with the crime and doubting the verdict, that she sets about playing detective. With the help of Alice's scientist-husband Oliver, she puzzles her way through to discover the real murderer, thanks to her quiet, persistent insight and her husband's eye for detail.



By today's crime fiction (and even cozy) standards, Murder Among Friends seems to be a fairly genteel psychological study of complicated, intertwined relationships, which might be considered quaint in its depiction of sexual attractions. Yet, as Keating tells it, in 1946, Ferrars's regular publishers refused to publish the book because "detective stories couldn't be this steamy."



Although she's said to have based many characters and situations on people she knew and things she'd experienced in real life, it's not known to what degree that plays a role here. But with the long character portraits Alice extracts from her questioning of the key players, it wouldn't take much of a leap to guess that Ferrars's emphasis on the emotional makeup of her characters was drawn from a keen eye of observation; or, as a character in her book The Small World of Murder puts it, "Murder's generally an intimate sort of thing. It happens in a small world, a little shut-in world of violent feelings."

          

Mystery Melange

Sisters in Crime (SinC) announced the winner of the 2022 Pride Award for emerging LGBTQIA+ writers is Sarah St. Asaph of London, England. Her winning novel-in-progress is a contemporary medical-legal crime mystery where a young lawyer is given the chance to re-examine the evidence against a former hospital doctor that has been convicted as Britain’s worst ever female serial killer. The novel explores how women are treated within the criminal justice system and plays with the prejudices and preconceptions they face as perpetrators of crimes. The five runners-up, who will also be paired with an established Sisters in Crime member author to receive a manuscript critique, include C. Jean Downer, Diane Carmony, Roy Udeh-Ubaka, Marle Redfern, and Elaine Westnott-O’Brien.

Southern Independent Booksellers (SIBA) have selected the finalists for the 2023 Southern Book Prize, representing bookseller favorites from 2022 that are about the South or by a Southern writer. One of the titles included on that list is The Violin Conspiracy by Brendan Slocumb, a conspiracy thriller about a Black classical musician on the rise—undeterred by the pressure and prejudice of the classical music world—when a shocking theft sends him on a desperate quest to recover his great-great-grandfather’s heirloom violin on the eve of the most prestigious musical competition in the world. Winners will announced on February 14, Valentine’s Day after popular vote (participating bookstores promote the ballot to their customers, and submitted ballots are entered into a raffle to win a set of the finalist titles).

The 2022 Petrona Award Best Scandinavian Crime Novel of the Year celebrates crime fiction from Denmark, Finland, Iceland, Norway, and Sweden translated into English and published in the UK in the previous calendar year. Due to the increased number of qualifying entries, the award, which is now in its tenth year, is for the first time releasing a longlist of twelve titles that will be whittled down to a shortlist announced on November 16. The longlist contains a number of new faces as well as Petrona Award-winning authors, Jørn Lier Horst and Antti Tuomanen, and the previously shortlisted Kjell Ola Dahl and Thomas Enger. You can see all the 2022 longlisted titles via this link.

The Crime Fiction Lover website polled readers to help choose nominations for their second annual Crime Fiction Lover Awards and have posted the finalists in the categories of Best Crime Novel, Best Debut Crime Novel, Best Indie Crime Novel, Best Crime Novel in Translation, Best Crime Show, and Best Crime Author. Readers can vote for their favorites via this link through November 30.

After launching a successful writers conference in May, Maple Leaf Mystery is back with a virtual mini-event on December 3, headlined by authors Brenda Chapman, Ron Corbett, Vicki Delany, Mary Jane Mafini, Mike Martin, and Rick Mofina, along with other Canadian mystery authors. Panel topics will include Short Stories, Police Procedurals, Suspense, Light-Mysteries, and more. You can register here and look for teasers, author bios, and updates on Facebook.

Many aspects of in-person literary conferences benefit authors and fans alike, but virtual events have the edge when it comes to inclusivity and cost. I have to admit, I'm much more likely to attend a virtual than in-person event these days, something many of us got used to during the Zoom-Covid era. Washington Post Book Club editor, Ron Charles, noted there's a new app called Booky Call (that presents books with saucy profiles you can swipe left or right to make discovering your next book as fun as finding your next Tinder hookup). To celebrate their one-year anniversary, Booky Call is launching BookyCon, a virtual book festival on November 12 where 3,000+ participants can login and be taken to a 3D art deco auditorium to join author presentations including the Mystery/Thriller stage. As Charles added, the software platform "looks infinitely adaptable and could radically improve any online event that involves multiple speakers and could be useful for other virtual book events."

Fans of spy thrillers and everything "spy," take note:  until recently, the CIA Museum was one of the most mysterious collections of artifacts in the world, with access restricted to CIA officers and approved officials. But that's about to change, sort of, as curators begin to digitize the 3,500 objects in the museum collection and offer up digital access for the public in a virtual museum marking the agency’s 75th anniversary.

This week's crime poem at the 5-2 weekly is "Aldebaron: Widows" by S.B. Watson.

In the Q&A roundup, Author Interviews chatted with Lisa Unger, an internationally bestselling author and Edgar Award nominee, about her latest novel, Secluded Cabin Sleeps Six; Crime Fiction Lover spoke with Icelandic author, Jónína Leosdóttir, about her crime novel, Deceit, her 20th book but the first to be translated into English; Deborah Kalb interviewed D.M. Rowell, who hails from a family of Kiowa storytellers, about her new mystery novel, Never Name the Dead; Writers Who Kill snagged Christin Brecher to discuss Photo Finished, the first book in the new Snapshot of NYC Mystery series; and CrimeReads got a jump on the holidays by putting together a roundtable of authors to discuss Christmas mysteries.

         Related StoriesMystery MelangeMystery Melange - Halloween Edition 

Author R&R with Lisa Sherman

Lisa Sherman's love of words led her to pursue a BA in English Literature as an undergraduate. Her interest in jurisprudence led her to law school, where she attained her Juris Doctor degree. Later, Lisa rounded out her love of writing by obtaining an MFA in Writing Popular Fiction at Seton Hill University and became a book reviewer for Windy City Reviews through the Chicago Writers Association. Her debut novel, Forget Me, was released in August.

Forget Me follows Wandy Dellas, who feels void of an identity after she was robbed of her memory in a mysterious accident. But things change when Wanda learns about a missing woman who looks all too familiar. She can't help but wonder if this case might hold answers to her past. The closer she gets to the truth, the closer danger gets to her and her young daughter, leaving her to question whether some memories are best left forgotten.

Lisa stops by In Reference to Murder to discuss writing the book:

 

THE ROMANCE NOVEL THAT WANTED TO BE A THRILLER...

When I first began drafting what would become my debut novel, Forget Me, I set out to write a romance novel. I sat in front of my computer screen as thoughts of "meet cutes" and happily ever after endings buzzed through my mind. And just like the title of the classic song by Dorothy Fields and Jimmy McHugh, I was "in the mood for love." Romance would be my guide.  

Regardless of the type of book an author is writing, all novels have certain elements that lead them to fall into a particular genre. Essentially, every genre comes with things readers want to see happen in the novels they choose to read. This is also known as reader expectations. For example, readers who choose a historical fiction novel are looking for a story in which the characters are living in an earlier time period. These readers are hoping to immerse themselves in the details that make up the flavor of that era. Details like the fashions of the day, the popular cuisine, and the inherent battles of that century. Given those expectations, a reader would likely feel dissatisfied if they discovered the book they thought was traditional historical fiction took place in outer space.

While keeping the parameters of genre expectations in mind, I pecked away at my computer keyboard for months, trying to add the elements of a romance novel to my story. I knew exactly how I wanted the narrative to play out: who would fall in love with whom, and how, and why, as well as what obstacles my heroine and hero would face on their way to true love. Their journeys were tattooed upon my heart.

But as I worked my way through the draft, strange things started to happen. My beloved characters tapped me on the shoulder and instead of whispering sweet nothings in my ear, they spoke to me of crime and mayhem. I dismissed their musings, pushed those plot threads out of my mind, and reassured myself there was an easy explanation for these shenanigans. I’m an attorney. Of course I’m going to view things through a legal lens. Satisfied with this explanation, I forged ahead on a path to at least a "happy for now" ending to my story.

But my characters were not satisfied. They voiced their complaints louder. Much to my shock and dismay, one of them even tossed around the idea of murder! It was time for me to listen.

So, I saved my work in progress and created a fresh, new document on my computer. I began writing a book with twists and turns, mind teasers, a puzzle, a mystery…and murder. By the time I finished my first draft, I knew my desire to write a romance novel was destined to go unrequited. And in the same way romance novels often play out, the one" I thought was "meant to be" wasn’t the one at all. Instead, my story met the elements of a novel I hadn’t planned on writing. Yet it landed in a genre I’ve fallen in love with nonetheless…a psychological thriller.

 

You can learn more about Lisa Sherman and her writing via her website and also follow her on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram. Forget Me is available through the publisher, Speaking Volumes, and via all major booksellers.

         Related StoriesAuthor R&R with J.L. AbramoAuthor R&R with Brian LebeauAuthor R&R with Charles Salzberg 

Media Murder for Monday

It's the start of a new week and that means it's time for a brand-new roundup of crime drama news:

THE BIG SCREEN/MOVIES

Andrew Byron Bachelor, a/k/a King Bach, is set to star in the action-thriller feature, Miles Ryder Part One, with Mortal Kombat’s Greg Russo writing the script for the feature, described as "John Wick meets Nobody." The project centers on Miles Ryder, an everyday man who is forced to confront his mysterious and violent past, which he has long kept secret. After a brutal attack threatens to expose him and his secrets, Ryder’s hidden combat talent and almost supernatural fighting abilities are put to the test as he attempts to save his family – and potentially the world – from a dark force with a nefarious motive.

Michael Douglas is set to star with his son, Cameron Douglas, in the family drama, Blood Knot, to be directed by Howard Deutch. The film is being adapted for film by Rowdy Herrington from Bob Rich's novel, Looking Through Water. Blood Knot centers around several generations of a family brought together and torn apart by mystery, murder, and true confessions as they seek redemption, love, and forgiveness.

British actor Mark Strong (Kingsman) has signed on to star opposite Joel Kinnaman in the crime thriller, The Silent Hour. Brad Anderson (The Machinist) will direct the original screenplay by Dan Hall. The story centers on Kinnaman's Boston police detective who suffers an on-the-job accident that leaves him hearing impaired. Sixteen months later, he is now an interpreter for the department and with his friend and partner (Strong) must battle a team of corrupt cops attempting to eliminate a deaf murder witness in the apartment building where she lives.

TELEVISION/STREAMING SERVICES

Sky and Peacock are creating a TV adaptation of Frederick Forsyth’s The Day of the Jackal. Described as a "contemporary reimagining of the beloved and respected novel," this will be the book's first TV series, following Fred Zinnemann’s BAFTA-winning film 50 years ago. The Day of the Jackal, one of the most well known and respected British novels of the 20th century, follows a professional assassin who is contracted by a French paramilitary dissident to kill French President Charles de Gaulle. Brian Kirk will direct, and Ronan Bennett, who achieved acclaim via Top Boy, the Netflix series about drugs and gang violence in London, will served as writer and showrunner.

Sir Ian Rankin’s Rebus detective novels are to be reimagined for the Nordic streamer, Viaplay, the first new Rebus TV adaptation in nearly fifteen years. The six-part series is a prequel and follows the titular character, who would later become Inspector Rebus, still in his 30s, recently divorced, and demoted to Detective Sergeant. He has a new colleague, Detective Constable Siobhan Clarke, and is struggling to deal with the changes in his personal and professional life. At the same time, Rebus’s daughter, Sammy, and ex-wife, Rhona, are enjoying an affluent existence with Rhona’s new partner. Cast will be unveiled shortly and filming will start next year, with Viaplay planning for a returning series.

Laurie Petrou’s literary thriller, Stargazer, a dark coming-of-age thriller about fame, scandals, and drugs, is among a trio of titles that have been optioned by Canadian production company, Nikki Ray Media Agency. The company also took an option on Jennifer Robertson’s Bitcoin Widow, the real-life story of a woman and her husband who owned the cryptocurrency agency Quadriga, and how his faked death led to a scandal that touched off major investment and criminal investigations. The third optioned title is Dean Jobb’s The Case of the Murderous Dr. Cream, a true-crime mystery about a Canadian serial killer named Dr. Thomas Neill Cream, who targeted the women who came to him for help with medical abortions in the 1890s.

A new trailer for Peacock’s psychological crime thriller, The Calling, has been released. The project was created by David E. Kelley (Big Little Lies), who also serves as showrunner, with Academy Award-winning filmmaker Barry Levinson (Rain Man) directing. The Calling is based on Israeli crime writer Dror A. Mishani's international bestselling novel, The Missing File, about an investigator whose deeply-held Jewish faith and belief in humanity are questioned when he is tasked with a harrowing missing person case of a woman's teenage son. Jeff Wilbusch (Unorthodox) stars as NYPD detective Avraham "Avi" Avraham, along with Janine Harris (Succession).

PODCASTS/VIDEO/RADIO/AUDIO

On Read or Dead this week, Katie McLain and Kendra Winchester discussed mysteries and thrillers for Indigenous Heritage Month.

A new Mysteryrat's Maze Podcast is up featuring the mystery short story, "Grist For the Mill," written by Kaye George and read by actor Joseph Ham.

The latest Crime Cafe podcast featured Debbi Mack's interview with crime writer, Lynn Hightower. She is the author of numerous thrillers including the Sonora Blair and Lena Padget detective series; teaches novel writing in the UCLA Extension Writing Program; and is a manuscript consultant and writing coach for novelists.

It Was a Dark and Stormy Book Club welcomed Liz Decker from Caprichos Books to talk about gift giving and digging deep for ideas.

Meet the Thriller Author featured a special episode with writing advice from famous authors.

My Favorite Detective Stories welcomed Sarah Burr to discuss #FollowMe for Murder, the first in the Trending Topic Mysteries that shines the spotlight on a social media influencer after she discovers a dead body in her clients’ store. Sarah is also the author of the award-winning paranormal cozy mystery, You Can’t Candle the Truth, first in the Glenmyre Whim Mysteries.

On Crime Time FM, Lucy Foley (The Paris Apartment) and Elly Griffiths (Bleeding Heart Yard) discussed the lure of the locked room mystery; why Covid had to appear in the new Ruth Galloway mysteries; contributing to an Agatha Christie short stories collection (Marple); and Boris Johnson's unruly mop top.

The Alfred Hitchcock Mystery Magazine podcast featured "Inquest" by Michael A. Black from the March 2004 issue. The story centers on a Chicago cop who heads out to the country to investigate the death of Red, an old family friend, and finds there's something a little off about the town he's visiting.

Meanwhile, Ellery Queen Mystery Magazine's podcast featured the story, "A Ghost for Marcy's Garden," written and read by W.W. Mauck — a U.S. Army veteran and Beloit College graduate who writes during the day around his night-shift job. The story hails from the Department of First Stories in EQMM's November/December 2022 issue.

         Related StoriesMedia Murder for Monday 

Friday's "Forgotten" Books: The Spoilt Kill

Mary Theresa Coolican Kelly (1927-2017) was born in London but ended up a Scotland gal, receiving an M.A. degree from University of Edinburgh in 1951, marrying Dennis Charles Kelly in 1950, and becoming a teacher. Her first mystery series featured Inspector Brett Nightingale of Scotland, starting with A Cold Coming in 1956. But after only three entries in that series, she switched to a series with freelance detective, Hedley Nicholson, with the first installment, The Spoilt Kill, earning the Gold Dagger Award from the British Crime Writers Association in 1961. She also became a member of the Detection Club and served as secretary.



Apparently, starting on a new literary track worked well for her, because after only two books in the Hedley Nicholson series, she switched to standalone novels, the first three (beginning with March to the Gallows) all nominated for the Gold Dagger in 1964, 1966, and 1969. She also tried her hand at a short story in 1971, "Judgment," chosen for inclusion in 1984's anthology The Best Crime Stories published by Hamlyn, putting in her the same company as Edgar Allan Poe, Arthur Conan Doyle and Agatha Christie. Unfortunately, in 1976 she stopped writing for good.



In The Spoilt Kill, P.I. Nicholson is hired to discover who is copying new pottery designs from the Shentall Pottery Company of Stoke-on-Trent and selling them to foreign competitors. It seems fairly straightforward until a body is found in a closed "kill" (local dialect for "kiln") filled with liquid clay. Nicholson soon finds himself falling for the chief suspect in both crimes, talented designer Corina Wakefield, the only employee not native to the area—who also has a drinking problem and a failed marriage that turns out to be relevant to the case.



Kelly structures the plot to start off with the discovery of the body in the first section ("What Happened"), just one chapter, in essence a prologue, then doubles back to a prequel of events ("What Happened Before") in the middle section, before returning to the denouement in part three's "What Happened After." The author does a nice job of immersing the reader into the atmospheric setting of the industrial area in the Midlands and of the pottery world, with passages such as the following:

"...A row of bottle kilns blocking the gap between blackened brick buildings, and beyond them a factory chimney and the peak of a slag heap, wraiths even in the middle distance. There was no far distance, only a grey blankness of cleaned smoke mixed with the drizzle that seeped from low-lying clouds."

Kelly had a foot in the very end of the Golden Age of detective fiction, and was a somewhat rare example of a female British writer penning a professional male private eye. As such, Spoilt Kill has the feel of a hybrid cozy/traditional mystery blended with the P.I. form. Some may quibble that Kelly doesn't quite nail the male first-person POV all the time, and the ending a tad telescoped, but the characters are well drawn and engaging, and the true mystery Kelly portrays is the psychological puzzle underlying human relationships.

          

Mystery Melange

When Women Kill by Chilean author, Alia Trabucco Zerán (translated by Sophie Hughes), has won the 2022 British Academy Book Prize. Novelist Zerán has long been fascinated not only with the root causes of violence against women, but by those women who have violently rejected the domestic and passive roles they were meant by their culture to inhabit. Choosing as her subject four iconic homicides perpetrated by Chilean women in the twentieth century—intertwining true crime, critical essays, and research diaries—she spent years researching this complex work of narrative nonfiction detailing not only the troubling tales of the murders themselves, but the story of how society, the media, and men in power reacted to these killings, painting their perpetrators as witches, hysterics, or femmes fatales.

The Japanese government said Wednesday that it will give the Medal of Honor to 717 people and 29 organizations this autumn, including novelist Arimasa Osawa. Osawa, 66, will be awarded the Medal with Purple Ribbon, which is given to those with accomplishments in arts, education or sports. The author is known for his "Shinjukuzame" (Shinjuku Shark) mystery novel series, for which he won the Naoki Prize in 1994, but has also penned the private detective Ko Sakuma series as well as the Arbeit detective series. He has entertained readers for more than four decades with his various writing styles and publications.

On Saturday, November 5, the Chester NJ Library will hold a day of book talks and workshops with 25 or more local authors. Mally Baumel Becker will moderate the panel on mystery and suspense fiction with authors Andrew Anselmi, Liz Alterman, Carlotta Holton, Charles Levin, Lori Robbins, and Kris Waldherr, discussing what it is about murder, spies, and supernatural thrills that keeps them writing.

On November 19th at 1pm, the San Bernardino Public Library will present a Mystery Panel featuring authors Lance Charnes, Travis Richardson, Jeri Westerson, and Pamela Samuels Young. They'll discuss what it takes to write a novel and get it published as well as talking about their personal craft when it comes to writing mysteries.

From now through December 6, you can enter the 2022 MASTERPIECE Mystery! Sweepstakes via PBS. The Grand Prize consists of an original costume sketch from Miss Scarlet and The Duke autographed by actor Kate Phillips, costume designer Momirka Bailovic, and Rachael New (the show's creator, writer, and Executive Producer); a hardcover Magpie Murders book autographed by author Anthony Horowitz; DVDs of Miss Scarlet and The Duke, Magpie Murders, and Annika; and one pair of socks featuring Edward Gorey artwork from the MASTERPIECE Mystery! opening credits. In addition, nine runners-up will receive program DVDs.

Last month, Uncle Hugo’s Science Fiction Bookstore and Uncle Edgar’s Mystery Bookstore, the Minneapolis icons that burned down in May 2020, reopened, but with somewhat reduced stock. However, it appears that proprietor Don Blyly is getting close to having all the used mystery trade paperbacks listed on Abebooks.com on their shelves. It will be a lot longer before used mystery hardcovers return, but they're still accepting donations. (HT to the Rap Sheet.)

I suppose I may have known this fact at one time, but Minnesota is home to the world's largest Sherlock Holmes collection. The University of Minnesota's Elmer L. Andersen Library has more than 60,000 individual pieces related to Sherlock Holmes and the fictional detective’s creator, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The university amassed the treasures by acquiring several personal collections, as well as through donations. Works range from concept art for the many Sherlock Holmes films to book illustrations and cover art. Although public tours of the collection are not generally available, individual items are occasionally displayed at the Andersen Library or other sites, such as the Minnesota History Center. You may also request to view certain items through the collection’s catalog system.

This week's crime poem at the 5-2 weekly is "Aldebaran: Ghost" by S.B. Watson.

In the Q&A roundup, Crime Fiction Lover spoke with Joe R. Lansdale, author of the Hap and Leonard series, about his writing and his upcoming collection of 19 short stories entitled Things Get Ugly: The Best Crime Stories of Joe R Lansdale; The Guardian interviewed Iceland’s PM, Katrín Jakobsdóttir, a long-time crime fiction fan who has just published her first crime novel with the assistance of bestselling Icelandic author, Ragnar Jónasson; and Writers Digest interviewed bestselling author Robert Crais who discussed how he started from scratch with his new crime novel, Racing the Light.

         Related StoriesMystery Melange - Halloween EditionMystery Melange 

Media Murder for Monday

I apologize for the delay, but Typepad just moved to new servers, and service has been down and/or spotty for the past few days. Anyway, it's the start of a new week and that means it's time for a brand-new roundup of crime drama news:

THE BIG SCREEN/MOVIES

Guy Ritchie and Jerry Bruckheimer have tapped Superman's Henry Cavill and Baby Driver star, Eiza González, to lead their World War II action spy movie, The Ministry Of Ungentlemanly Warfare. The movie is based on war correspondent and military historian Damien Lewis’s popular book of the same name and is inspired by real events, charting a secret WWII combat organization created by UK Prime Minister Winston Churchill and James Bond author, Ian Fleming. The clandestine squad’s unconventional and entirely "ungentlemanly" fighting techniques against the Nazis helped change the course of the war and in part gave birth to the modern Black Ops unit. Deadline reported that Ritchie and Bruckheimer are conceiving the project as a franchise.

Aaron Taylor-Johnson is the latest to join Ryan Gosling and Emily Blunt in the cast of Universal’s The Fall Guy, which has a March 1, 2024 release date. Production for the movie is set to begin in Australia this fall. The feature film is inspired by the 1980s series of the same name that starred Lee Majors, Douglas Barr, and Heather Thomas as Hollywood stunt performers who moonlight as bounty hunters.

The first trailer dropped for the gothic murder-mystery film, The Pale Blue Eye, based on Louis Bayard’s 2006 historical fiction novel of the same name. The Pale Blue Eye takes place in 1830 at the United States’ famed Military Academy, West Point. An unknown killer is stalking the campus, slaying several members of the school, which leads to the arrival of a detective (Christian Bale) in hopes of solving the case. But, all is not as it seems at the well-disciplined academy as the detective begins to unravel a tangled web of secrets. In the middle of it all, penning the horrific happenings into prose form, is a young cadet named Edgar Allen Poe (Harry Melling). The film also stars Robert Duvall, Gillian Anderson, and Lucy Boynton.

TELEVISION/STREAMING SERVICES

FX has given a green light to The Bends, a drama pilot from Homicide creator, Paul Attanasio, and Fargo executive producer, Warren Littlefield. Written by Attanasio and based on the novel Killing Ground by Gerald Seymour, the thriller series follows a seemingly perfect American family in Berlin whose secrets come to light when they hire a new nanny, unaware that she is trying to expose the parents’ corrupt financial and familial ties. Mike Barker (Hit & Run) will direct the pilot.

Amazon Studios has ordered a new Alex Cross series, with Aldis Hodge (Black Adam, One Night In Miami) set to portray the titular character. The project is based on the best-selling book series by James Patterson featuring Alex Cross, a detective and forensic psychologist uniquely capable of digging into the psyches of killers and their victims, in order to identify—and ultimately capture—the murderers. A doting father and family man, Cross is single-minded to the point of obsession when he hunts killers. The Alex Cross book series has previously been adapted for film with Morgan Freeman serving as the first actor to bring the character to life in 1997’s Kiss The Girls and again in 2001’s Along Came a Spider. Tyler Perry followed with the 2012 reboot film, Alex Cross.

The reason Aldis Hodge is available to star in the Alex Cross series is that his most recent project, City on a Hill, was just cancelled by Showtime after 3 Seasons. The '90s-set crime drama starred Hodge along with Kevin Bacon and was based on an idea by Ben Affleck and creator, Charlie MacLean. The drama launched in 2019 and featured Bacon as a retired FBI agent working with a city prosecutor (Hodge) solving crimes in Boston. Ben Affleck, Matt Damon, and Barry Levinson executive produced alongside showrunner Tom Fontana, Bacon, and Hodge.

Mike Caron's new production company has set a small-screen adaptation of the mystery series Monster Kid Detective Squad as one of his first projects. Monster Kid Detective Squad is set in Frightsville and follows characters such as Elsie Frankenstein, a super-strong young monster, Sherry Dracula, a young, headstrong vampire, and Rico Gillman, a young sea monster. The book series is written by Jason Henderson and In Churl Yo and published by Castle Bridge Media.

Betsy Brandt and Michael Park have joined the cast of Hulu’s psychological drama series, Saint X, adapted from Alexis Schaitkin’s novel. The eight-part drama is told via multiple timelines and perspectives and explores and upends the girl-gone-missing genre as it explains how a young woman’s mysterious death during an idyllic Caribbean vacation creates a traumatic ripple effect that eventually pulls her surviving sister into a dangerous pursuit of the truth. Brandt and Park will play Mia Thomas and Bill Thomas, upper middle class parents of two, enjoying a family vacation in a Caribbean resort until one of their daughters goes missing.

Lana Parrilla (Why Women Kill) and Yaya DaCosta (Chicago Med) have joined the cast of Netflix’s The Lincoln Lawyer for Season 2 in recurring roles. Parrilla will play Lisa Trammell, a beloved chef and community advocate struggling to keep her restaurant afloat as a predatory real estate developer threatens the neighborhood around her. DaCosta will portray Andrea Freemann, a cut-throat prosecutor and Mickey Haller’s (Manuel Garcia-Rulfo) undefeated courtroom rival, who is also a friend of his ex-wife Maggie (Neve Campbell). Based on the series of bestselling novels by Michael Connelly, The Lincoln Lawyer follows the redemption of Haller, a Los Angeles attorney who regains much of what he lost due to addiction with hard work and hustle. His success is also thanks to his devoted supporters: his ex-wives Maggie (Neve Campbell) and Lorna (Becki Newton), his driver and unofficial sponsor Izzy (Jazz Raycole), and the best investigator in town—and Lorna’s newly minted fiancé—Cisco (Angus Sampson).

Peacock debuted the first teaser for Poker Face, the murder mystery drama created by Rian Johnson, and announced the series will premiere on Jan. 26 with four episodes followed by weekly drops on Thursdays. A 10-episode mystery-of-the-week series, Poker Face follows Charlie Cale (Natasha Lyonne), who has an extraordinary ability to determine when someone is lying. She hits the road with her Plymouth Barracuda and with every stop encounters a new cast of characters and strange crimes she can’t help but solve. The cast of guest stars includes Adrien Brody, Benjamin Bratt, Chloë Sevigny, Nick Nolte, Rhea Perlman, Ron Perlman, and many more.

Last week, I reported that The Hardy Boys series on Hulu had been cancelled after three seasons, and now it appears that the Nancy Drew series on The CW Network is also ending after season 4. The decision to end Nancy Drew is not unexpected, and the Season 4 finale has been crafted as a "satisfying series finale." Nancy Drew follows the legendary teen detective (Kennedy McMann) as she solves mysteries – both earthbound and supernatural – in her haunted hometown of Horseshoe Bay, Maine. Also starring were Scott Wolf, Leah Lewis, Maddison Jaizani, Tunji Kasim, Alex Saxon, and Riley Smith.

Fox has unveiled the first promo for its upcoming anthology drama, Accused, a project which hails from 24 executive producers, Howard Gordon and Alex Gansa, and House creator, David Shore. The series is based on the BBC’s crime anthology where each episode opens in a courtroom on the accused without knowing their crime or how they ended up on trial. In the Fox version, which is keeping the original’s anthology format, viewers discover how an ordinary person got caught up in an extraordinary situation, ultimately revealing how one wrong turn leads to another until it’s too late to turn back. The stellar cast includes Rachel Bilson, Whitney Cummings, Abigail Breslin, Michael Chiklis, Margo Martindale, Molly Parker, Rhea Perlman, Malcolm-Jamal Warner and more.

PODCASTS/VIDEO/RADIO/AUDIO

On the latest episode of the Crime Cafe podcast, Debbi Mack interviewed travel memoir and crime writer, Sherry Knowlton, author of the Alexa Williams suspense novels.

It Was a Dark and Stormy Book Club featured "Rapid Reviews October 2022."

On Read or Dead, Katie and Kendra discussed novels with villain POV characters.

Intelligence historian and author, Nigel West, joined Spybrary podcast host, Shane Whaley, to share more about his latest book, Spies Who Changed History; plus, he answered questions on the Wilson Coup, the Steele Dossier, meeting Anthony Blunt, and many more topics.

My Favorite Detective Stories welcomed Catriona McPherson, author of the Dandy Gilver historical detective stories, the Last Ditch mysteries set in California, and several contemporary standalone novels including the Edgar-finalist, The Day She Died, and the Mary Higgins Clark finalist, Strangers at the Gate.

Writers Detective Bureau host, Detective Adam Richardson, interviewed Matthew Gentile about writing and directing his new feature film, American Murderer. This true-crime inspired movie stars Tom Pelphrey, Ryan Phillippe, Idina Menzel, and Jackie Weaver.

On Crime Time FM, Paul Burke looked at the latest crime fiction titles for September and October, which includes a tour of the world of crime fiction from America to Asia via Europe and Australia and across two millennia.

The latest episode of Red Hot Chili Writers featured a chat with auhors Claire McGowan and David Beckler; a discussion of the Sri Lankan winner of this year's Booker Prize; and a reflection on Ireland's infamous "vanishing triangle" disappearances of women in the 1990s.

         Related StoriesMedia Murder for Monday 

Sunday Music Treat - Halloween Edition

Composer Franz Liszt was a bit obsessed with death and the afterlife, allegedly going so far as to visit prison dungeons to see first-hand people sentenced to death. His interest in the macabre is often found in his work, with one of the most famous being the Totentanz (Dance of Death) for piano and orchestra. It's based on the "Dies Irae" Gregorian chant, but Liszt spins the centuries-old melody into a virtuosic and percussive piece that was modern for its time. Scott Drayco, the protagonist of my Scott Drayco crime series, and a pianist, himself, would undoubtedly have picked this as a perfect Halloween treat. Here's Alfred Brendel as soloist with the London Philharmonic Orchestra, led by Bernard Haitink:

 

         Related StoriesSunday Music TreatYour Sunday Music Treat